We were lucky to catch up with Stephanie No recently and have shared our conversation below.
Stephanie, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
As the child of immigrants, I got my resilience from watching my parents hustle all my life. My mother and father were born and raised in Korea. In hopes of finding better opportunities, they moved to the US.
My dad was a house painter and worked 7 days a week, while my mother was a seamstress and a stay at home mom. During the day, my mom managed the household duties and raising 3 kids. Then, she would put us to bed and work late into the evening sewing muumuus. I would often awake to find my mom sewing in the garage.
My mom was creative and always tried to look for ways to create other streams of income. On the weekends, she would set up a tent at our local swap meet and sell her muumuus. I remember following my mom at a young age and helping her set up the tent and the racks of dresses. This was my first taste of entrepreneurship.
As I got older, my mom started experimenting with different business ventures. There was a restaurant, a snack shop and then a dry cleaners. My mom was always taking calculated risks in hopes of greater returns.
I’ve always been amazed at my parents’ tenacity and knack for figuring things out. My mom used to always say “you have a mouth, don’t you? You can always ask!” Watching my parents tackle any obstacle that came their way instilled in me the belief that I could always figure it out. If I looked hard enough, there would always be a way to make things work.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My name is Stephanie No and I’m a speaker and life and mindset coach. My journey to get here was not a traditional one. I had a successful business as a CPA, but I was never quite fulfilled. After having a high risk pregnancy with my second child, I decided to step back from my business and press pause on my career. I took on a new challenging role of “stay at home” mom before I pivoted into life coaching.
Prior to the career pause, I always found myself bouncing from job to job. I used to call myself a professional quitter. At times, I felt ashamed that I was never satisfied in a job. I wondered if I was the only one asking, “is this it?” There was this constant, nagging feeling that I had more to offer to the world.
We all struggle in different aspects of our lives. Some people struggle with their weight and dieting or some people struggle with dissatisfaction in their relationships. I struggled with committing to a career. If you looked at my employment history, it would seem so haphazard. I went from auditing the best wineries in Napa to visiting different factories in China and Hong Kong. Then, to working for myself at home, while raising my babies along side me.
Along the way, I had a lot of people question my choices. When you look around and see all your friends going to graduate school, getting promotions, and becoming doctors, the self doubt and shame starts to creep in. But, I always came back to trusting myself to figure it out. I drowned out the many suggestions and listened to my own voice. I figured that I would rather fail at trying to live a bigger, fuller life than to settle for less. Looking back at it all, I can finally see how all the experiences and lessons learned have prepared me for today.
I’ve always been a planner who loves dreaming big and setting goals. So, when I found life coaching, it all just fell into place. I used to always say “I wish I could be someone’s hype woman.” Now, this is what I get to do.
As a life and mindset coach, I hold up a mirror to my clients and help them see their truest self. We examine their values and beliefs and I show them how it manifests in their lives. As their coach, I help them see all the possibilities and not just the path laid out in front of them. By asking them questions and challenging the story that they tell themselves, I am asking my clients to take responsibility of their lives and live intentionally.
So many of us are living small and just going through the daily motions of life. We numb ourselves with food and alcohol, Netflix or scrolling social media. We’re all so stressed out, anxious and overwhelmed. I want to help change that. Life is too short to live without a purpose. I want to teach others how to start paying attention to what they truly want and to live their life with intention.
When someone is living aligned with their values and purpose, they show up so much differently in the world. My purpose is to help others live their best lives and reach their fullest potential, so that they can have a positive impact in their circles and communities.
Life and mindset coaching is so exciting and empowering. Lives can change with even the simplest shift of thinking. Relationships can be saved with a simple reframing. When you learn to manage your mind, you can have the brightest future without changing anything in the past. This is why I am so passionate about life and mindset coaching. The sky’s the limit.
As I get ready to return from maternity leave, there are quite a few things in the works. In August, I will be opening up more spots for my 1:1 coaching and expanding my offering of in person workshops. Also, I will be launching a podcast in the Fall of 2023, so please keep an eye out for that. If you want to connect or see how we can work together, feel free to email me at sno@stephanieno.com or follow along on instagram @stephnocoaching.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The three most important qualities or skills that were most impactful to my journey was my self confidence, listening to my own voice and my ability to be flexible.
Most of us think confidence comes from something outside of us. Once we accomplish this or once we achieve that, we will feel confident. However, true self confidence is ultimately just believing that you can and will figure it out. It’s trusting yourself and having your own back.
Being able to listen to your wants and needs is an invaluable skill. Even those who love you and have the best intentions for you may not be able to see the future as you see it for yourself. Ultimately, you have one life to live. It’s up to you create the life you want to live. So, how do you want to live it? When I know what I want, I go for it and tune out the noise. The noise could be your own self doubt, your family’s worried thoughts or your friends’ jokes.
I believe that having the ability to be flexible and pivot when needed is key to any success. Life is so unpredictable. If you are unable to shift or pivot when life comes your way, you will find yourself disappointed or worst, stuck. Sometimes as much as we try our best to do all the “right” things, it might not go our way. Therefore, being flexible will enable us to pivot and learn from the challenges that will eventually turn into something greater.
My advice to those who are early in their journey is to get to know yourself. The greatest relationship you’ll ever have is the one with yourself. Take some time to learn what you like, what you don’t like, what your strengths are, what you could improve upon, etc. When you get to know yourself, it’s easier to build that sense of self trust and confidence. You’ll also learn what you matters most to you and it will make decision making easier in the day to day. Because once you have clarity, you’ll know exactly how you want to show up in your life.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
I do a thought download. Essentially, you grab a journal or a piece of paper and set a timer. I set a timer for 10 minutes and just write. It’s as if I’m dumping everything out of my brain and on to the paper. There’s something about putting pen to paper that is so cathartic. Once you see it all on paper, it tends to make whatever it is feel more manageable. If you keep it in your head, it tends to inflate itself into something much bigger than it is.
If you need help managing your feelings of overwhelm, schedule a free coaching call with me. I can help you get to the bottom of what’s causing the overwhelm once and for all.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.stephanieno.com
- Instagram: stephnocoaching
- Facebook: stephnocoaching
- Linkedin: stephnocoaching
- Twitter: stephnocoaching
- Youtube: stephnocoaching
- Email: sno@stephanieno.com
Image Credits
Stephanie No
